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Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Scared to Death

I watched Insidious for the first time over the weekend. Perhaps one of the scariest movies I’ve seen in awhile. Let me preface all of this by saying I have seen some pretty scary movies in my time. My little brother exposed me to my fair share growing up. Anyone else out there heard of Battle Royale?

My college roommates will attest to the fact that this is not a movie for the weak-hearted. Released in 2000, Battle Royale is a Japanese film set in the future where a new act has been issued and a group of delinquent students are sent to an island to kill each other off. They have three days to kill until they are the last one standing, or else they all die.

The movie is just a gory as it sounds. My point to that is that you would think having been able to watch that, I wouldn’t be phased by our more mild American horror flicks.

Let me tell you though, I don’t know what it is about demon movies that completely sends me off the deep end. I refuse to watch the exorcist. I have never seen it and never will. Paranormal activity had me crying with my eyes covered for the last ten minutes (this is not an exaggeration, I was literally crying in the movie theater. Can we say embarrassing?)

So what, you may ask, possessed me to pick up Insidious? I have no earthly clue. But there I found myself Saturday night, perched in front of the television with Anthony, eating the soy banana pudding I had made and preparing myself for the inevitable screaming.

For those of you who haven’t seen it, I don’t want to give away too much of the premise, but what you need to know is that the visuals are what pushes the movie forward, and what Anthony likes to call the “cheap thrills” are what keep you on the edge of your seat (FYI, I’m a “cheap thrills” kinda girl. If you can’t make me jump in a horror movie, you’re not really doing your job.) I started the movie laying down, but spent most of it in a bird like position on the edge of the sofa (something similar to owling I suppose, but completely unintentional.)

I only wish I had a video camera attached to my t.v., so I could show you guys a video of my horror movie reactions. Anthony spent a good portion of the movie laughing at me, and I spent a good portion repeating my mantras for the night, “Why do I do this to myself?” and “This is so not funny.”

The thing is, regardless of how much I ‘hate’ horror movies in the moment, I absolutely love them in the end. It’s like being on a rollercoaster and wanting to get off right at the top, but running back to get in line once the ride is over. Insidious was great and awful and scary and wonderful all at the same time. The only question is this. What should my next scary movie be?